Slain Levies personnel: Not just a number

Wazir was the sole breadwinner of the family. Hayat Ali's grief-struck mother died on hearing of her son's death.

PESHAWAR: On late Saturday night, 21 kidnapped Levies personnel were killed by militants in Frontier Region (FR) Peshawar. Among the slain men were three friends, Imran, Abbas and Shakoor, who had enrolled in the force together a year ago.

They went on duty together and were executed beside each other, after nearly 200 militants stormed three check posts and abducted over 22 personnel on December 27.

Their funeral prayers were held and they were laid to rest together.

Wazir Khan, also among the killed, was a father of six daughters. He had enlisted himself in the Levies force eight months ago after retiring from the army. Wazir was the sole breadwinner of the family and his oldest daughter was supposed to get married in 12 days.

Another killed soldier, Shamim, had been blessed with a son a month ago. He was planning to treat his friends to dinner at the check post.

Inayatullah was not on duty on the day of the incident, but was killed when he rushed to the check post with his gun on hearing about the attack.

Hayat Ali was his parent’s only son. On hearing the news of his death, his grief-struck mother also passed away.

The funeral of both the mother and the son was held together.

After the personnel were abducted, the local FR political administration convened a jirga of the elders. At this jirga, the locals were given two days to recover the abducted men under the local area responsibility arrangement.

However, the levies’ force captors chose to execute them.